First Blood (1982)

I will readily admit that the overlying reason for seeing this was because of liking Son of Rambow so much. But hurray now I have seen another well-respected film and can knock it off that pesky list of "movies I should see sometime finally". First Blood, the first in the Rambo series, stars Sylvester Stallone as the title character, a Vietnam War veteran and Green Beret traveling through a small town looking for someone from his old team. He is assumed to be a troublemaking vagrant by Sheriff Teasle (Brian Dennehy) and promptly arrested because he won't leave town. When he is assaulted at the police station, he is overcome by memories of his war-time experiences, and lashes out in terror. He manages to escape the station on a motorcycle and makes it to the surrounding woods.

The Sheriff is determined to find him and take him in, and leads a group of police officers into the rocky forest, armed with guns and a helicopter. Rambo utilizes all of his special training to defend himself, integrating himself into the environment and making good use of his only weapon: a large serrated knife. After one of the police officers is killed and several are injured, Rambo's old leader, Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna) is called in along with some military forces. Trautman does his best to connect with him, trying to lure him out without any more bloodshed. But it becomes clear that Rambo has suffered a severe mental break, losing touch with reality and holding fast to his defensive instincts, feeling forced to enact this one-man war.

I didn't know much about this movie going into it, but I was surprised by how dramatic it was. It was tense and action-y and thrilling, to be sure, but at its heart was the very serious issue of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I was impressed with Stallone, whom I have not seen in too many movies but has never done much for me. He was athletic, naturally, and extremely intense. His performance was fairly subtle (it helped that his character wasn't very talkative), and his big scene at the end was very affecting. I liked Richard Crenna a lot, too. He had an unexpected kindness in his eyes that really made me feel for the character. Plus he made clear his disapproval of Sheriff Teasle, who was such a dick, so I knew I could be on his side.

First Blood is a really good thriller/drama, and for the most part I liked it. But it wasn't particularly memorable. I think it was a little overly simple. Not enough happened, somehow. Or it took too long to get going. I don't need it to be a huge over-the-top action flick but it just felt a little lacking in general. I couldn't completely get into it. I guess the premise and completely male cast also threw me off a bit- there was nothing here I could relate to, which managed to keep me from seriously investing myself in it. Oh well. Still a very interesting movie, and as I've heard it, the best of the series?

4/5